Soldier Field Renovation Proceeds

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, January 16, 2002

With a lawsuit pending and the team in the playoffs, the Chicago Bears are moving forward on the controversial renovation of historic Soldier Field.

The Bears began work on the $606 million project, tearing out concrete bleachers just north of the stadium that are not used for games. Last fall, the team demolished an adjacent park district building as part of the project.

Work on the next phase of the project _ gutting the stadium's interior _ could begin within 24 hours of the Bears' final home game.

"We're not going to dawdle once the old place is no longer in use," said Thomas Hardy, a project spokesman.

The Bears play Philadelphia at home on Saturday and could play a home game the following week if they win and the St. Louis Rams lose to the Green Bay Packers. Then the Packers would come to Soldier Field for the NFC championship game.

The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois and the group Friends of the Parks asked a Cook County judge Wednesday to expedite hearings on their lawsuit seeking to halt the renovation. But the project opponents stopped short of asking the judge for a restraining order.

"If we were granted a (restraining order) and we didn't win in the end, we could be liable for damages related to the delay," said David Bahlman, president of the Landmarks Preservation Council.

Attorneys for the Bears asked for time to respond to the motion to speed up the proceedings, and Circuit Court Judge John K. Madden set a new hearing date for next Tuesday.

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Critics have said the project violates the law by using tax dollars _ a hotel-motel tax _ for the benefit of a private entity. The renovation, which would place a modern 61-500-seat bowl inside the historic colonnades, has also been criticized as a potential eye-sore on the city's lakefront.